Dr. Atorod Azizinamini, P.E.
Director, IBT/ABC-UTC, Florida International University

Dr. Atorod Azizinamini is the Vasant Surti Professor of Civil Engineering and the Director of Innovative Bridge Technologies/Accelerated Bridge Construction – University Transportation Center (IBT/ABC-UTC). He has led several major multi-disciplinary bridge engineering-related initiatives. He is the founder of two major transportation field organizations: the National Bridge Research Organization at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the Center for Accelerated Bridge Construction at Florida International University.

He has developed several bridge engineering products and systems that are being used nationally and internationally. Among the bridge systems that he has developed are the folded plate steel bridge system, composite systems and simple for dead and continuous for live load system for steel bridges. Under the Second Highway Research Program (SHRP2) R19A, established by U.S. Congress, he led the development of the first and most comprehensive document and devoted to the service life design of concrete and steel bridges.

Dr. Azizinamini was a Distinguished College of Engineering Professor and Director of the National Bridge Research Organization at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, before joining FIU in January of 2011. He has published more than 200 technical publications related to structures and bridge engineering. Additionally, has produced more than 50 graduate students at the M.S. and Ph.D. levels. He has also taught more than 40 short courses on the design and construction of super- and sub-structures to practicing bridge professionals.

Dr. Azizinamini has provided significant service and contributions to the field of bridge engineering. As chairman of the ASCE Bridge Technical Administrative Committee (Bridge TAC), he had the responsibility of overseeing eight ASCE bridge committees. He helped to organize and Co-Chaired the FHWA Bridge Engineering conferences in 2010 (Orlando, FL), 2008 (Baltimore, MD), 2005 (San Diego, CA), 2004 (San Antonio, TX), 2002 (Salt Lake City, UT), and 2000 (Baltimore, MD). He routinely gives keynote speeches at major national and international bridge engineering conferences. He has received a number of national awards. In October of 2015, he was awarded the 2015 White House Champion of Change: Transportation Innovator, in a ceremony held at the White House. His awards include the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), Special Achievement Award and several other bridge innovation awards. He has also served as a consultant on several major bridge engineering initiatives around the world, including the Service Life Design of Tappan Zee Bridge in New York and the design of unique and innovative bridges in several states. He is a registered professional engineer in Nebraska and Montana.

Dr. Bijan Khaleghi, P.E.
Co-Director for Technology Implementation, IBT/ABC-UTC, Florida International University

Dr. Bijan Khaleghi is Co-Director of Implementation of the Innovative Bridge Technology/Accelerated Bridge Construction -University Transportation Center (IBT/ABC-UTC), and Research Associate Professor at Florida International University College of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He manages infrastructure research projects and the implementation of accomplished research projects to State transportation agencies. He is also an adjunct professor at Saint Martin’s University. Bijan is a Principal Structural Engineer with David Evans Associates, responsible for bridge project management and QC/QA implementation. Before 2023, Bijan was the Washington State Department of Transportation, Bridge and Structures Office, served as member of AASHTO Technical Committees, PIARC TC4.4, and TRB Committees. Bijan is PCI Fellow, recipient of PCI Awards, T.Y. Lin Awards, IBC Award.

Kathy Crowell, P.E.
Co-Director for Technology Transfer/Webinar Coordinator, IBT/ABC-UTC, Florida International University

Ms. Kathy Crowell joined the IBT/ABC-UTC in the fall of 2023.  Prior to her current position, Kathy spent two years as a Senior Bridge Engineer with Jacobs and seven years with the New Mexico Department of Transportation, holding the position of Assistant State Bridge Engineer, managing the Bridge Design Section.  During her tenure at NMDOT, Kathy had the privilege of serving on the AASHTO Committee on Bridges and Structures. Kathy spent the first 20 years of her career with M.A. Mortenson Company working on large commercial and infrastructure construction projects.  Kathy held Project and Quality management positions, utilizing most major delivery methods.  She worked on projects totaling over one billion dollars. Kathy holds a BS in Civil Engineering from Purdue University, West Lafayette.  She is a registered Professional Engineer in Colorado and New Mexico.

Mary Lou Ralls Newman, P.E.
Co-Director for Technology Transfer/Project Database, IBT/ABC-UTC, Florida International University

Ms. Ralls Newman is the principal of Ralls Newman, LLC, a structural engineering consulting firm in Austin, Texas. She joined the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) in 1984. In 1999, she became the State Bridge Engineer and Director of the Bridge Division. Under her direction, the division oversaw and provided assistance in program and project development; structural and geotechnical design; standards and plan development; plans, specifications, and estimates review; safety inspection including in-house fracture critical and underwater inspections; and bridge construction and maintenance support to the 25 districts for the 50,000 on-system and off-system bridges in the state. Following her 20-year career at TxDOT, Ralls Newman began her consulting career with a focus on accelerated bridge construction. She has been the ABC-UTC (now IBT/ABC-UTC) Director of Technology Transfer since the ABC-UTC was created in 2013. She is active in the Transportation Research Board and other professional organizations and has authored a number of publications on innovative bridge technologies. Ralls Newman holds an MS in Engineering, Structures, and a BS in Civil Engineering with Highest Honors from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a registered Professional Engineer in Texas.

Dr. Mostafa Tazarv, P.E.
Co-Director, University of Nevada-Reno

Dr. Mostafa Tazarv is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). He specializes in the seismic behavior of concrete structures, the application of advanced materials in civil engineering, and accelerated bridge construction. Dr. Tazarv secured over $7. 5 million in research funding from agencies such as the U.S. Department of Transportation, state Departments of Transportation, and the National Science Foundation. His research has significantly contributed to the understanding and improvement of infrastructure resilience in seismic regions. Development of AASHTO guide specifications on Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) for bridge bents (NCHRP 935) and novel bridge columns (NCHRP 864) are examples of his work.

Dr. John Stanton, P.E.
Co-Director, University of Washington

John Stanton is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Washington. He has an undergraduate degree from Cambridge University (UK) and graduate degrees from Cornell and UC Berkeley. He worked in design practice for six years in Britain, France, and Canada before joining the University of Washington in 1978. He holds a PE license (WA state) and is a Fellow of ACI. He has taught and conducted research in several areas of structural engineering, focusing primarily on seismic engineering issues, reinforced, pre-stressed and precast concrete. He was awarded the TY Lin prize in 1988 and 2014, the PCI Harry Edwards Design award in 2000, the Munro Award (Engineering Structures) in 2008, the Charles Zollman award in 2013, and PCI’s Distinguished Professor of the Year award in 2013. He has won the Departmental Teaching Award four times and has been nominated many times for College and University Teaching awards. In the 1990’s, he developed a new seismic framing system for pre-cast concrete buildings that, for the first time, used unbonded post-tensioning to re-center the structure after an earthquake. That concept has now been copied by researchers in the steel and timber industries, and in many countries throughout the world. His recent work has focused on bridges. He has worked extensively in ABC in seismic regions and has adapted the concept of unbonded pre-stressing for use in (pre-tensioned) bridge columns. Pseudo-static tests, followed by shaking table tests, showed that the system has outstanding performance. Over the last five years he has worked, with his colleague Richard Wiebe, on the lateral stability of long, precast, prestressed concrete girders, which are essential components of many ABC projects. The researchers initially focused their efforts on developing a new theory to describe the behavior, including cracking and torsional deformations and, in 2024, they conducted tests to failure on full-scale girders. He is also a recognized authority on bridge bearings and joints. Most of the AASHTO code provisions for bearings are the direct result of his research.

Dr. Marc Eberhard, P.E.
Co-Director, University of Washington

Marc Eberhard is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Washington.  His research and teaching focus on the design and performance of structural systems, with emphases on reinforced and pre-stressed concrete structures, earthquake engineering and bridge engineering.  Professors Eberhard and Stanton have developed and tested a series of bridge substructure systems that are suitable for rapid construction in areas of moderate or high seismicity.

Professor Eberhard received the ASCE T.Y. Lin Award in 2014, the PCI Charles Z. Zollman Award in 2013, an Award of Special Recognition and Appreciation from EERI in 2010, and the NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award in 1991.

Professor Eberhard has participated in reconnaissance efforts following the 1991 Costa Rica and 1998 Taiwan earthquakes, and played leadership roles in the reconnaissance efforts following the 2001 Nisqually and 2010 Haiti earthquakes.  He was also responsible for initiating and maintaining the PEER structural performance database, which provides information on hundreds of tests of reinforced concrete columns.  This resource has been used by researchers throughout the world

His present activities include participating in the structural studies for the University of Washington team that is investigating the consequences of a magnitude nine earthquake on the Cascadia Subduction Zone.

Dr. Musharraf Zaman, P.E.
Co-Director, University of Oklahoma

Musharraf Zaman, Ph.D., P.E., holds the David Ross Boyd Professorship and the Aaron Alexander Professorship in Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, and Alumni Chair Professorship in Petroleum and Geological Engineering at the University of Oklahoma (OU), Norman. He served as the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs in the OU College of Engineering (CoE) for more than eight years. During his 30-plus years of service at OU, he has received more than $30 million in external funding, published more than 200 journal and 270 peer-reviewed conference proceedings papers and 12 book chapters, and served on the editorial boards of several highly prestigious journals. He has supervised 79 master’s theses and doctoral dissertations to completion. He has been serving as the Director of the Southern Plains Transportation Center (SPTC) since October 2013. He serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Geomechanics (IJOG), ASCE. His research papers have earned international-level awards from the International Association for Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics (IACMAG) and the Indian Geotechnical Society. Prof. Zaman’s leadership in interdisciplinary research was instrumental to developing a patented technology, Intelligent Compaction Analyzer, for real-time monitoring of compaction quality of asphalt pavement layers during construction. His projects have contributed to improved designs through advanced laboratory and field testing, mechanistic analysis, and modeling. His projects have led to enhanced use of recycled materials (aggregates from abandoned mines, reclaimed pavements, reclaimed asphalt shingles, and ground tire rubber) in construction. As SPTC director, he has provided leadership in supporting collaborative research and education focused on climate-adaptive transportation infrastructure, including innovations in bridge designs, construction, maintenance, and preservation.

Dr.  Royce Floyd, P.E., S.E.
Co-Director, University of Oklahoma

Royce Floyd, Ph.D., P.E., S.E., is an Associate Professor in the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science at the University of Oklahoma. He is also Associate Director of the Southern Plains Transportation Center (SPTC). His research focus is on extending the life of transportation infrastructure using innovative concrete materials, such as ultra-high performance concrete, self-consolidating concrete, and calcium sulfoaluminate cement concrete. Much of his work includes large-scale structural testing and experimental evaluation of these advanced concrete materials. He has been PI or Co-PI on more than thirty-five projects totaling over $8.5 million in external research funding. Several of these projects have been sponsored by the Oklahoma DOT, including monitoring for the first few field projects implementing ultra-high performance concrete in Oklahoma. He has published more than 45 refereed journal articles and 30 conference proceedings, and has presented his work at national and international conferences. He teaches courses on reinforced concrete, prestressed concrete, and structural wood design. He has supervised 25 master’s theses and Ph.D. students to completion and involved almost 30 undergraduate students in research at OU. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute, and American Concrete Institute, where he serves as Secretary of ACI Committee 363 High Strength Concrete.

Dr.  Eren Erman Ozguven, P.E.
Co-Director, Florida A&M University

Dr. Eren Erman Ozguven is a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, the director of Resilient Infrastructure and Disaster Response (RIDER) Center, and the associate director of the Rural Equitable and Accessible Transportation (REAT) Center, a U.S. Department of Transportation Tier 1 University Transportation Center. Dr. Ozguven has established a multi-disciplinary research and education program that strives to address ever-growing resilience, mobility, safety, and accessibility problems in the context of climate change and disasters. He also leads the community-focused infrastructure resilience and emergency transportation operations research efforts in his centers. Dr. Ozguven has authored and co-authored more than 120 technical papers in the area of transportation engineering, traffic safety, humanitarian logistics, inventory management, artificial intelligence, and intelligent transportation systems.

Dr. Bjorn Birgisson, P.E.
Co-Director, University of Georgia

Dr. Bjorn Birgisson is the Chair of the School of Environmental, Civil, Agricultural and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Georgia and the Georgia Power E-Mobility Distinguished Professor. He also serves as the Executive Director of the Georgia Network for Electric Mobility, an organization of 26 partners from industry, academia, government and NGOs. He is a prominent figure in the fields of mobility, transportation infrastructure, and construction materials, with extensive research on additive materials for infrastructure, civil systems-of-systems, and resilience. Dr. Birgisson has authored over 240 technical papers and is recognized as a Foreign Fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences and a Fellow of both the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE). Previously, Dr. Birgisson held the J.L. “Corky Frank/Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC Chair in the College of Engineering at Texas A&M University. His research has had a significant impact on advancing the design, performance, and resilience of transportation infrastructure. As a co-director of the IBT/ABC UTC, he is contributing to groundbreaking research in innovative bridge asset management solutions. His expertise has shaped the development of construction materials and infrastructure strategies that are both sustainable and resilient. Dr. Birgisson’s leadership and research have greatly influenced the field of civil engineering, and he continues to mentor the next generation of engineers through his academic and professional roles.

Dr. Jeff Bullard, P.E.
Co-Director, Texas A&M University

Jeff Bullard joined Texas A&M as a Professor in August 2019, holding joint appointments in the Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Prior to that, Dr. Bullard was a Materials Research Engineer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. He received a BS in Ceramic Engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla and an MS and PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. His research involves applying the principles of thermodynamics and kinetics to understand, predict, and ultimately control the evolution of microstructure and properties of materials. His research has been sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the Federal Highway Administration, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Energy. He is a Fellow of the American Ceramic Society and of the Washington Academy of Sciences. He is an Editor of Cement and Concrete Research and an Associate Editor for the Journal of the American Ceramic Society. Among the various awards and honors he has received are the U.S. Department of Commerce Silver Medal Award, the Stephen Brunauer Award (three times), the Le Châtelier Distinguished Paper Award (twice), and plenary or keynote lectures at multiple international conferences.